MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee alderman has introduced an ordinance that would require tighter security at downtown parking facilities — after nearly 40 vehicles in a parking lot adjacent to the Milwaukee Intermodal Station were broken into during the first weekend in December. That followed an incident over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend during which six cars were broken into.

In addition to those break-ins, FOX6 News learned a homeless man who had been escorted from the Intermodal Station returned with a large ax and smashed three front windows in the building’s west lobby in September, according to a report from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

According to a news release, the ordinance, introduced by Alderman Robert Bauman, would require full-time attendants and regular patrols for larger parking facilities and would establish other key requirements.

“It is clear after recent vehicle break-ins and criminal activity at the Intermodal Station — as well as incidents downtown and in the Third Ward — that we need to require larger parking facility operators to substantially increase security for the protection of customers and the public,” Alderman Bauman said in the release.

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The security measures that would be required by the ordinance include full-time attendants and regular patrols for larger parking facilities, security lighting, video surveillance, gates for vehicle entry and egress, and an attendant-manned elevated surveillance platform for every 200 parking spaces in a surface lot.

This legislation will be heard by the Public Works Committee on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at City Hall.